Secretary of Ag Tom Vilsack threatened to impose a second beef checkoff that would double the annual, non-refundable collections of the now-$80 million federal program if members of his reform effort didn’t come to an agreement.

What did individuals and political action committees believe they were buying when they contributed $755.1 million this election cycle to Republican and Democratic candidates for the U.S. House and $415.2 million to Republican and Democratic candidates to the U.S. Senate?